SOFIA, Bulgaria, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Bulgarian teachers, who have been on a monthlong strike, demonstrated in Sofia as unions and government leaders failed to resolve a pay raise demand.
Union strike committee leaders said Friday 98 percent of teachers in Bulgaria’s state-run secondary schools were on strike for a 20th day, the Bulgarian Focus news agency reported.
Teachers, demanding a 100 percent pay increase by mid-2008, organized a march to a downtown Sofia square where some 50,000 protesters staged a rally Thursday, asking for the resignation of the government of Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev.
On Wednesday, union leaders rejected Stanishev’s offer of a 35 percent salary increase.
The teachers, who make an average of $320 a month, would agree to a 78 percent raise, the Bulgarian Sofia News Agency said.
